I got so much else on my plate at the moment that the last thing I need is blogging guilt. I feel like I'm letting the kids down a bit by not noting down things here.
Hell, I haven't got the time so my blurbs here will have to be infrequent.
------
The twins are 4 today, only eight more months until they start school WOO-HOO. We're having a party at the bear factory on Saturday. They'll get to make a cuddly toy each. 12 kids at £12 a head works out about the same as hiring a hall and bouncy castle plus we don't have to provide any parry bags as all the kids will have toy to take home.
------
My Grandma has finally decided to move in with my Mum. She's 87 and her sister died last year so she's been a bit lonely on her own in Merseyside. Mum and Dad went to clear out her old bungalow this weekend and I got a wheel chair for her from Freecycle.
------
Bloody car broke down on Saturday, turns out it was just the battery but it cost £123 to join the RAC and get them to come out plus £71 for a battery. Put this on top of the twins birthday and having just come out of Christmas. January is proving to be very expensive. Roll on payday.
Showing posts with label grandma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grandma. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Infrequent
Right, I've been away for a while again. It's no good, I'll just have to be more structured or I'll end up missing large chunks of my life, floating away with no record.
There's way too much to say so I'll just stick to the high level stuff.
Auntie Betty
------------
My Great Aunt Betty died last week and was buried yesterday, she was in her eighties. She was my maternal Grandmother's sister and they lived next-door-but-one to each other in a suburb of Liverpool. My parents went up for the funeral.
Her husband, Uncle Bert, died a few years ago. He and my Grandfather were army friends. They were both from South Wales originally but had lived in Merseyside since the war.
My Grandad died of lung cancer when I was only nine. He was the first dead person I ever saw.
Anyway, my Grandma is now practically alone in Merseyside. There are some cousins of mine still up there but her children have all moved away. My mother lives on the edge of SE London/Kent and her brother recently took a long term contract in Abu Dhabi.
My mum has been trying to get Grandma to move down for a while now. She's modified the house so everything she needs is on the ground floor and there is enough room too but Grandma has always wanted to stay at her own house. Perhaps she'll change her mind now that her sister has gone.
Shock
-----
I'd been home from work last Wednesday when my wife came running out of the kid's playroom scratching like mad. She'd been tidying up some jigsaws when a rash appeared all over her.
Her lips and fingers really looked swollen and her skin was covered in bumos like nettle rash.
She took some piriton then jumped in the shower to ease the itching. I went to see her two minutes later and got her out of the shower. She said she felt a bit 'funny' and then slumped to the floor.
She was barely conscious and couldn't really hold a conversation. There isn't much space in the downstairs shower room so I tried to get her to stand and help her to the front room. Then she went limp and I lowered her to the ground. She'd passed out.
I dragged her to the front room and put her on the sofa before calling the emergency services. I also called next-door-but-one and asked Debbie to sit with the kids whilst we went to hospital. The kids were all asleep thankfully. I left my mum's number with Debbie and she cam down to take over.
The ambulance arrived in about 10 minutes and I followed behind in the car. Eventually, we got home about 2am. My wife had had an allergic reaction to something unknown and gone into a form of anaphylatic shock.
She went to see the GP the following afternoon and now has to carry an epi-pen around in case it happens again. Epi-pens have a dose of adrenaline in them to bring the sufferer out of the shock.
So quite a scary night really, not elast because I was home early that night. If it had been the day before she'd have been on her own and <GULP> who nows what might have happened?
Still at least I might have the chance of stabbing her in the thigh with an epi-pen one day ;) and I now know how difficult moving a body is. I don't know how murderers manage it without being spotted.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Funeral
My wife's paternal Grand-mother was laid to rest yesterday at Kent county crematorium.
My wife's Aunt J and cousin V came to stay at our house for the night. They drove up early from Devon and then followed us to Uncle D's house where the procession was to start from.
There were about twenty people in total and the service went quickly. Two hymns and a final song, 'Everything I Own' by Bread, then back to Uncle D's for tons of food and drink.
My wife's family has an average height of about 5-foot-4 and I'm 6-feet-4. Being one of the very few non-blood relatives there I stuck out like a sore thumb.
My wife's Aunt J and cousin V came to stay at our house for the night. They drove up early from Devon and then followed us to Uncle D's house where the procession was to start from.
There were about twenty people in total and the service went quickly. Two hymns and a final song, 'Everything I Own' by Bread, then back to Uncle D's for tons of food and drink.
My wife's family has an average height of about 5-foot-4 and I'm 6-feet-4. Being one of the very few non-blood relatives there I stuck out like a sore thumb.
Friday, January 27, 2006
She's gone
Our children have no idea that they have just lost one of their great-Grandmothers, they never met her for reasons described in my previous posts.
I took my wife back up to the hospital after the twins had gone to bed, my Mum has been stying with us for a few days to help my wife. This is great because it means we can visit the hospital without having to take the kids. Can you imagine it? Explaining to 3 and 4 year olds that this lady is your great-Grandma, she never wanted to see you but she's dying now so....
Anyway, we took some de-odorant and spare clothes up for my in-laws. They'd be awake most of the night because there was a very confused elderly man in the next room that kept trying to come into their room. The door would open and he pops in shouting:
"Where's my milk? You've stolen my milk. Get out of my room."
Wouldn't help you sleep would it?
When my wife's uncles, D and T, arrived with D's wife. We managed to persuade my in-laws to come home with us for a proper rest and the pop back in the morning. T was going to stay with his mother throughout the night so she wouldn't be alone if she died.
On the way home my mother-in-law fell asleep in the back of the car. She must have been having a nightmare about the mad old guy in the hospital because just as I was driving over a hump-backed bridge she shouted out:
"Get out! Get out! You can't come in here, I haven't got your milk."
We got her out of the car at the other end and made her comfortable on the sofa.
Just before 3am we got the call to say that Grandma had died around 2:30am. She stopped breathing. Her son, T, got one of the nurses and she confirmed that his mother had passed away. Then T started making the phone calls....
I took my wife back up to the hospital after the twins had gone to bed, my Mum has been stying with us for a few days to help my wife. This is great because it means we can visit the hospital without having to take the kids. Can you imagine it? Explaining to 3 and 4 year olds that this lady is your great-Grandma, she never wanted to see you but she's dying now so....
Anyway, we took some de-odorant and spare clothes up for my in-laws. They'd be awake most of the night because there was a very confused elderly man in the next room that kept trying to come into their room. The door would open and he pops in shouting:
"Where's my milk? You've stolen my milk. Get out of my room."
Wouldn't help you sleep would it?
When my wife's uncles, D and T, arrived with D's wife. We managed to persuade my in-laws to come home with us for a proper rest and the pop back in the morning. T was going to stay with his mother throughout the night so she wouldn't be alone if she died.
On the way home my mother-in-law fell asleep in the back of the car. She must have been having a nightmare about the mad old guy in the hospital because just as I was driving over a hump-backed bridge she shouted out:
"Get out! Get out! You can't come in here, I haven't got your milk."
We got her out of the car at the other end and made her comfortable on the sofa.
Just before 3am we got the call to say that Grandma had died around 2:30am. She stopped breathing. Her son, T, got one of the nurses and she confirmed that his mother had passed away. Then T started making the phone calls....
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Neverending
Just as I was leaving the ofice last night I got a text from my wife saying that her Grandma had taken a turn for the worse. The doctors were estimating that she had 24 to 48 hours left.
My wife wanted to visit her and take her parents too.
The relationships on this side of the family are a little strained. My wife's Grandmother has four sons and a daughter. The eldest is my father-in-law and the youngest is the daughter, she is only 8 years older than my wife.
We see these two quite regularly but have little contact with the others. This is mainly because of the animosity that the dying women has shown to her daughter over the years. She was uncommonly distant from her daughter, J, and has been quite cruel at times, refusing to speak to her or see her grandson. There doesn't appear to be any reason for this and I guess we'll never know why.
About 9 years ago my wife's Grandfather died. Shortly after this her Grandmother wrote a letter to my wife telling her that she didn't want to see her anymore and wouldn't come to our wedding. The letter was very hurtful but some of the things in it showed that the Grandmother was confusing my wife with her daughter. Her mind had started to go and she moved in with her son D and his wife C.
As her health deteriorated rapidly over the last year, the family has been pulling back together slowly. The only problems seem to be those between the Grandmother and her daughter, J. J now lives in Dorset and is too far away to visit at the moment. Also, as she has been out of the loop for a while she thnks that everyone is at each other's throats but it just isn't like that. The semi-estranged brothers are all around the bed (apart from one, J, who has alcohol problems) and chatting sociably.
I drove my wife and her parents to the hospital as I thought it best that my father-in-law didn't drive. I'm relatively detached from the situation emotionally but he might not have been in a fit state to drive.
As it turned out my in-laws decided to sleep in charis by the bedside so that the old lady was not alone. It is palliative care only now, morphine to keep the pain away. She isn't concious and her time is near.
My wife and I got home in the early hours and tonight is going to be the same, if the old lady lives through the day..
My wife wanted to visit her and take her parents too.
The relationships on this side of the family are a little strained. My wife's Grandmother has four sons and a daughter. The eldest is my father-in-law and the youngest is the daughter, she is only 8 years older than my wife.
We see these two quite regularly but have little contact with the others. This is mainly because of the animosity that the dying women has shown to her daughter over the years. She was uncommonly distant from her daughter, J, and has been quite cruel at times, refusing to speak to her or see her grandson. There doesn't appear to be any reason for this and I guess we'll never know why.
About 9 years ago my wife's Grandfather died. Shortly after this her Grandmother wrote a letter to my wife telling her that she didn't want to see her anymore and wouldn't come to our wedding. The letter was very hurtful but some of the things in it showed that the Grandmother was confusing my wife with her daughter. Her mind had started to go and she moved in with her son D and his wife C.
As her health deteriorated rapidly over the last year, the family has been pulling back together slowly. The only problems seem to be those between the Grandmother and her daughter, J. J now lives in Dorset and is too far away to visit at the moment. Also, as she has been out of the loop for a while she thnks that everyone is at each other's throats but it just isn't like that. The semi-estranged brothers are all around the bed (apart from one, J, who has alcohol problems) and chatting sociably.
I drove my wife and her parents to the hospital as I thought it best that my father-in-law didn't drive. I'm relatively detached from the situation emotionally but he might not have been in a fit state to drive.
As it turned out my in-laws decided to sleep in charis by the bedside so that the old lady was not alone. It is palliative care only now, morphine to keep the pain away. She isn't concious and her time is near.
My wife and I got home in the early hours and tonight is going to be the same, if the old lady lives through the day..
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Southport
Last weekend I went to Southport with my wife, kids and parents. My wife, children and mum had driven up on Thursday, stopping off for a night with my brother-in-law in Ilkley.
He moved up there to run a fish and chip shop with his boyfriend a few years back so, we don't see as much of him as we'd like.
Anyway we went to Southport to use it as a base for a few visits to my family who mainly live in and around Merseyside. There are now so many of us that it's not fair to stay over at my Grandma's house. We usually stay at a travel lodge/inn but as they have recently put their prices up we thought we'd go for some budget accommodation at Pontins, Southport.
I have a very early memory, I was about 2 years old, of having a sore ear with a scab on it. Apparently this was from friction burns on the bumpy slide at this Pontins. Well, the slide's gone but just about everything else seems to be unchanged in 30-odd years and I don't think they've cleaned since then either.
I know it was budget but that doesn't mean dirty and inadequate. The floor was filthy; greasy carpet with soil and cigarette butts littered about. The wardrobes were designed without doors, presumably to save money, one of them also had no hanging rail.
The place was supposed to sleep seven at most and it did but if there are seven people staying then why were there only 4 plates 3 forks, 5 spoons, 1 saucepan, 4 cups etc...
The cooker was thick with grime and burnt on food. My wife and mum arrived a few hours before us with the kids and, after making a complaint and requesting the bed linen that should have been there, tried to clean up aenough to get the kids settled. When we arrived at 11:30pm they had just had the linen delivered by the security guards??? after a second complaint.
I got my head down and tried to sleep through the stench of the place, its difficult to describe but the closest I can get is half-cooked minced beef.
The next day we found that everyone staying there was complaining about the filth. A few more complaints the next day and something was done whilst we were out. They'd left some extra crockery and cutlery. They hadn't hoovered but had left a vacuum cleaner for us so we could do it.
We've taken lots of pictures and the complaints have been sent to Pontins and the EHO.
He moved up there to run a fish and chip shop with his boyfriend a few years back so, we don't see as much of him as we'd like.
Anyway we went to Southport to use it as a base for a few visits to my family who mainly live in and around Merseyside. There are now so many of us that it's not fair to stay over at my Grandma's house. We usually stay at a travel lodge/inn but as they have recently put their prices up we thought we'd go for some budget accommodation at Pontins, Southport.
I have a very early memory, I was about 2 years old, of having a sore ear with a scab on it. Apparently this was from friction burns on the bumpy slide at this Pontins. Well, the slide's gone but just about everything else seems to be unchanged in 30-odd years and I don't think they've cleaned since then either.
I know it was budget but that doesn't mean dirty and inadequate. The floor was filthy; greasy carpet with soil and cigarette butts littered about. The wardrobes were designed without doors, presumably to save money, one of them also had no hanging rail.
The place was supposed to sleep seven at most and it did but if there are seven people staying then why were there only 4 plates 3 forks, 5 spoons, 1 saucepan, 4 cups etc...
The cooker was thick with grime and burnt on food. My wife and mum arrived a few hours before us with the kids and, after making a complaint and requesting the bed linen that should have been there, tried to clean up aenough to get the kids settled. When we arrived at 11:30pm they had just had the linen delivered by the security guards??? after a second complaint.
I got my head down and tried to sleep through the stench of the place, its difficult to describe but the closest I can get is half-cooked minced beef.
The next day we found that everyone staying there was complaining about the filth. A few more complaints the next day and something was done whilst we were out. They'd left some extra crockery and cutlery. They hadn't hoovered but had left a vacuum cleaner for us so we could do it.
We've taken lots of pictures and the complaints have been sent to Pontins and the EHO.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
